Lisa Bullock Bradshaw of Boonville is known for the delicious homestyle offerings she served up at the Locust Street Cafe, which was open from 2005 to 2011 on the Boonville square.

She kindly contributed three delicious summer squash recipes — an old fashioned Southern Squash Casserole, an Italian Zucchini Casserole and a wonderfully light Grilled Zucchini and Tomato recipe — to fire up your taste buds for the abundance of fresh squash and zucchini appearing right now in gardens and farmers markets.

"My mom gave me the old-fashioned squash casserole recipe a few years ago and told me how much she liked it," said Bradshaw. "I had Locust Street Cafe at the time, so I tweaked it to my own taste and everybody went crazy over it. They knew the zucchini came from my garden, so that made a difference to them too.

"This casserole is a little different," she added, "because it has a little green pepper in it which gives flavor, and because it only has Parmesan cheese where most of them have cheddar. It just gives it a different taste. I make this at home all the time in the summer, and usually eat it all myself because my husband Terry never was much of a squash fan."

That changed when she introduced him to the light and super-flavorful Grilled Zucchini and Tomato recipe included. "I just place all the ingredients right on the grill and cook it together," said Bradshaw. "He wouldn't really eat squash until he tried it this way, but then he said, ‘OK, this is really good.'"

This grilled recipe is unique because the squash and tomatoes are cooked directly on the grill grate, without turning, until everything has cooked to a

smoky tenderness, and are then topped with Parmesan or mozzarella cheese.

Bradshaw's final recipe contribution, an Italian-style zucchini casserole with provolone and Parmesan cheeses, comes from her friend Allen Coch.

It's a lighter casserole recipe, topped with a layer of cheese and cracker crumbs but not creamy, with the flavor of the squash, tomato and onion really shining through.

"This is a really good side dish if you're having an Italian meal," said Bradshaw, "Or even with a simple meat like grilled chicken breast."

Southern Squash Casserole

Source: Lisa Bullock Bradshaw

Serves 4-6

INGREDIENTS

3 cups zucchini or summer squash, cubed or thick sliced

1 medium onion, chopped

1/3 cup green pepper, chopped

2 eggs, beaten

¾ cup mayonnaise

4 ounces cream cheese, softened

2/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 teaspoon garlic powder

— salt and pepper to taste

1 cup butter-flavored crackers, crushed

DIRECTIONS

1 Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook squash, onion and green pepper in water just until crisp-tender. Drain.